Sangam Age: Economy
- The Sangam Age, also referred to as the Early Historic period in south India, denotes a distinct spatio-cultural unit covering the regions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, located at the extreme south of the subcontinent and bounded by the sea on three sides.
- This period was contemporary with the Mauryas, Sungas, Indo-Greeks, Kushanas, and Satavahanas, who ruled over other parts of India, and its developments cannot be viewed in isolation.
- Though the language used in this region was Tamil, its historical and cultural developments show clear connections with other parts of India as well as with the wider Indian Ocean region, which influenced this area considerably.
- Compared to the preceding cultural period, the economy of the Sangam Age shows greater diversity and prosperity, and this era also saw the first introduction of coins and script in the region’s history.
- The material and cultural wealth revealed through literature and archaeology confirms this economic prosperity, at least to a certain degree, relative to the earlier period.
- The Iron Age in south India was a formative cultural phase, generally placed between ca. 1300 BCE and 300 BCE, and was succeeded by the Early Historic period.
- The Sangam Age — named after the Sangam, the association that compiled the texts of this period — is generally placed between 300 BCE and 300 CE, though the texts themselves may have been compiled into anthologies later than when they were originally composed.
- The polity of the Sangam Age was dominated by the Vendars, known as the Cholas, Pandiyas, and Cheras, along with numerous other small political entities or chiefs.
- References to these larger political entities in the inscriptions of Ashoka, together with the vast corpus of texts known as Sangam literature, mark the beginning of the Early Historic period in south India.
- The Sangam corpus is the principal source of information for this cultural period, containing references to the ways of life and economic activities of people from all walks of life.
- This literary evidence is corroborated by Tamil inscriptions, Ashokan inscriptions, Greco-Roman sources, and archaeological evidence.
- Scholarship on the Sangam Age has evolved considerably: early studies focused on the investigation of literature, while later studies shifted their attention to Indo-Roman trade.
- Archaeological excavations of megalithic burials and habitation sites have further contributed to the understanding of these cultural developments.
Sources
- The sources available for the study of the Sangam Age economy are many, comprising the Sangam Tamil texts, Greco-Roman and Sanskrit sources, Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, Ashokan inscriptions, and archaeological sites and materials.
Sangam Tamil Texts
- The eighteen major works of the Sangam corpus include the Ettutogai (the eight anthologies) and the Pattupattu (the ten long poems).
- The Ettutogai poems are: Aingkurnuru, Ahananuru, Purananuru, Kalittogai, Kuruntogai, Nattrinai, Paripatal, and Patitruppattu.
- The Pattupattu texts are: Tirumurukarruppatai, Kurincippattu, Malaipatukatam, Maturaikkanci, Mullaippattu, Netunalvatai, Pattinappalai, Perumpanarruppatai, Porunararruppatai, and Cirupanarruppatai.
- The eighteen minor works of the later period, along with the Five Epics, offer information on the early medieval or Post-Sangam period.
- Together, these texts provide data on the landscapes, culture, and eco-cultural contexts of the age.
The Greco-Roman Texts
- Owing to the external connectivity of the Tamil region during the Early Historic period, several foreign accounts describe the maritime activities of Tamizhagam.
- Strabo’s account, the Periplus Maris Erythraei (Casson 1989), and Ptolemy’s account are important sources for understanding the economic developments of this period (Warmington 1928), in addition to Sanskrit texts including the Ramayana.
Inscriptions
- The Ashokan inscriptions, especially Rock Edict II, mention these polities as well as Ashoka’s welfare efforts, such as planting medicinal herbs and providing medical facilities for the benefit of humans and animals.
- The Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, found along trade routes on rock shelters with carved stone beds for monks (mostly Jains), as well as those found on pottery, reveal the nature and diverse backgrounds of merchants and the development of script and literacy in the region.
Archaeological Sources
- Archaeological sources for this period include the abundant megalithic burials and the rich variety of material culture recovered from them, including iron, ceramics, copper, gold, carnelian, and quartz artefacts, beads, and rare Roman coins.
Roman Coins and Local Coins
- Roman-origin coins (Turner 1989), punch-marked coins (Vanaja 1983), and coin issues of local rulers — the Chola, Pandya, Chera, Malayaman, and other rulers — together reveal the nature of transactions and the extent of monetisation in this early period.
Excavated Archaeological Sites
- Excavated archaeological sites, both burials and habitation sites, form an important source for this period.
- Excavations at port sites such as Arikamedu, Azhagankulam, Kaveripumpattinam, Korkai, Uraiyur, Kanchipuram, and Keezhadi in Tamil Nadu, and Pattanam in Kerala, along with numerous burial sites such as Sanur, Kodumanal, and Adichanallur (sites in the interior region), offer valuable information on the material culture of the Iron Age–Early Historic period.
- These excavated sites have also revealed extensive evidence of material cultural production, pointing to both trade and craft production.
Sangam Age: Economic Activities
- Economic activity in the Sangam Age increased considerably compared to the Iron Age, a prosperity clearly reflected in the archaeological record revealed through excavations, as well as in the literature of both indigenous and foreign origin.
- These economic activities can be divided into primary production — comprising hunting-gathering-fishing, agriculture, and pastoralism — craft production, and exchange and commercial activities.
- The polity of the Sangam Age was dominated by the Vendars of the Cholas, Pandiyas, and Cheras, along with numerous other small political entities.
- There are ongoing debates over the existence of a full-fledged “state” in this period: the early formations were a kind of chiefdom, and these polities cannot simply be categorised as “primitive” or “tribal entities without any territorial control,” nor can they be classed as an early form of state.
- These polities exercised power over territories by frequently attacking and engaging in battles, while also adopting rituals intended to legitimise their position.
The Landscapes and the Economic Activities
- The economic activities of the landscapes can also be seen from the perspective of the early Tamil texts.
- According to the classification found in Sangam literature, the territories of the Tamil region consisted of five tracts: Kurinji, Marutam, Mullai, Neytal, and Palai.
- The Kurinji (mountainous) zone was occupied by hill people involved in hunting-gathering, shifting cultivation, and the gathering of forest produce.
- The Mullai landscape covered the forest zone — often scrub forest — and was home to pastoral groups.
- The Marutam territory, the riverine zone, had agriculturalists and farmers, mainly engaged in rice cultivation.
- The Neytal, the coastal tract, was inhabited mainly by fishermen, involved in fishing, salt-making, and trade and commercial activities.
- The Palai, the dry arid zone — into which the Mullai territory often turned during the dry season — supported hunting, pastoralism, and robbery, owing to its lack of natural resources.
Kurinji and the Economic Activities
- The people of the Kurinji were called Kuravars, Kurattiyars, and Vettuvars, and were involved in hunting and gathering.
- They gathered roots, fruits, sweet potatoes, and forest produce, hunted small game, and practised small-scale farming of millets such as ragi and tinai, along with collecting fruits such as jackfruit and honey.
- Agriculture was also undertaken during the monsoon: people collected wild varieties of paddy, and various rice crops known as aivanam, torai, and vennel are mentioned in the literature.
- Tinai rice was cultivated and finds reference in the literature; wild varieties of rice were also grown.
- These people additionally collected forest produce such as pepper, aram (sandal), and akil, likely exchanged for produce from other regions.
Mullai and the Economic Activities
- The Mullai region refers to forested territory — generally not dense forest, but scrub forest and pastures — lying mostly in the central part of Tamil Nadu, at higher altitude and not very close to the coast.
- Animal husbandry was the main activity here, undertaken chiefly by cowherds and shepherds, known as Ayar (men) and Aychiyar (women).
- Milk-related products such as curd and butter were the main produce, and rain-fed farming was also practised, with tinai and varahu as the main crops.
- A system of barter existed between the people of different landscape zones.
Marutam and the Economic Activities
- Marutam refers to the wetland of the riverine delta area, inhabited by people called Uzhavars and Uzhathiyars.
- In these fertile, riverine tracts with lush agricultural fields, the main crop was rice, cultivated in many varieties including sennel and putunel, and nurtured by perennial waterbodies and streams.
- These fertile lands were called vayal, ceru, kazhani, and pazhanam.
Neytal and the Economic Activities
- Fishing was the main occupation of this coastal land, alongside widely practised salt manufacturing and pearl fishery.
- Trade in various goods took place in these coastal areas, and the people were called Valayar and Paratavar.
- The region also had many ports and pattanams that developed into commercial and urban centres.
Palai and the Economic Activities
- The Palai region, being arid and dry, did not provide any major base for economic activity except hunting-gathering.
- People here resorted to robbery of traders and travellers passing through the region from other zones; they were called Maravar.
- Although the categories of this text-based classification are relevant, they represent only part of the reality and not all the components of a particular zone — these were idealised, generalised forms meant for literary composition.
- In reality, there must have been considerable overlap of territories, and of the communal and social lives of the people; these landscape categories cannot be taken as a complete reflection of reality, which must have been far more complex.
Primary Production
Agriculture
- Agriculture was practised at different scales across the regions. Several varieties of rice are mentioned in the literature — vennel (white rice), ivananel, torai, sennel (red rice), and putunel (new rice) — indicating that a range of rice varieties were cultivated.
- Agriculture was practised on segmented plots of land known as vayal, ceru, kalani, and pazhanam.
- Karikalan, the Chola king, is said to have converted forest land for cultivation, dug tanks, and built an embankment along the river Kaveri (Pattinapalai 283–284).
- The farmers, called Uzhavars, ploughed the fields, while the chieftains of the agricultural population were known as Velir.
- The traditional method of sowing involved fertilising the field with animal manure and vegetable waste, preceded by careful seed selection (Perumpanarrupatai 153–54; Cirupanarrupatai 136–137).
- In the dry areas, millets were cultivated, while shifting cultivation was undertaken in the hills.
- Thus, a wide variety of crops were cultivated and subsequently exchanged and traded across the region.
Pastoralism
- Pastoralism was common in the forested terrains, mostly in the central part of Tamil Nadu.
- Conflicts over cattle were common and sometimes led to skirmishes among the people; warriors killed in such fights were honoured by erecting hero stones, which are frequently mentioned in the literature in the context of the pastoral region, i.e., the Mullai tracts.
- Goods such as curd and butter and other produce were exchanged, and sheep-goat pastoralism was also prevalent, as revealed both by references in the texts and by animal bones recovered from archaeological contexts.
- The meat of the goat was relished, as the poems attest.
Hunting-Gathering-Fishing
- Hunting-gathering also contributed to the economy — hunted animals were traded, and there is evidence of trade or barter in animal meat and forest produce.
- Fishing was the main occupation in the coastal area, with fish exchanged for paddy.
- People also collected gems and precious stones found in the territory, and even animal products such as elephant tusks were traded; gathered forest produce was similarly exchanged for various goods.
- Evidence for the exchange of ivory for toddy is also found in the literature.
Salt Making
- Salt, an important commodity used in food, also served as a preservative material; it was produced by people from the coast.
- The salt traders, called Umanars, are frequently mentioned in Tamil literature.
Craft Specialization
- Craft specialisation is another hallmark of the Sangam Age economy and must have begun as early as the Iron Age.
- In Sangam texts, blacksmiths were known as kollans, and several settlements may have had their own kollan workshop (Kuruntogai 172, 5–6).
- Archaeological and textual sources together shed light on craft production and specialisation in ancient Tamil country.
- Among the crafts, iron smelting, pottery-making, and stone-bead making were perhaps well established as full-time specialised crafts as early as the Iron Age itself, with craftspeople distributed across the landscape owing to the widespread demand for these products.
- In the Early Historic period, gem-stone cutting and the shell and glass bead industries became active, though they remained limited to certain centres.
Crafts and Industries
- References to craftsmen by specific name, and to the exclusive ceris (colonies) of shell bangle makers mentioned in Sangam literature, point to their specialised nature and suggest some form of organisation among craftsmen — perhaps as a full-time occupation in urban areas.
- Distinct references to goldsmiths and gold merchants likely indicate that craftsmen and traders specialised in particular commodities.
- Weaving must have been a major industry, as revealed by evidence of spindle whorls, a piece of woven cloth from Kodumanal, a structure identified as a dyeing vat from Uraiyur, and references to various types of cloth in both Sangam and Greco-Roman literature.
- Many of these industries were active mainly in urban areas, industrial centres, raw-material sources, and coastal port towns, while the iron and ceramic industries were active across the wider landscape.
Iron Industry
- The iron industry was the mainstay of the economy, supporting political conflict, pastoral activities, agriculture, and hunting and fishing — thus serving people across all ecozones — and was produced extensively by blacksmiths.
- Iron objects were also traded. While iron-smelting sites are limited in number, iron-working sites are larger in number; not all habitation sites show evidence of iron smelting, but iron working took place at a greater number of sites.
- The abundant deposits of iron found in burials, especially swords, suggest large-scale production; these objects were also found with chiefs and included all types of weapons of war — swords, axes, daggers, arrowheads, spearheads, knives, and tridents.
- In Tamil Nadu, 40 of the 97 excavated megalithic sites have yielded iron objects.
Iron Furnace Sites
- The people of this period had achieved the capability to produce high-quality iron objects, with evidence of iron production found at many sites across Tamil Nadu, used by various communities according to need.
- Evidence of furnaces has been found at Guttur (excavated by Madras University) and Kodumanal (excavated by Tamil University; Rajan 1994).
- From disturbed contexts, furnaces have also been documented at Melsiruvallur by Sharatha Srinivasan, and at Perungalur by Sasisekaran.
- The furnace at Guttur measured 2.2 m in length, 0.63 m in width, and 0.45 m in depth, and was capable of producing cast iron; iron objects from these sites contained 2.5 to 5% carbon.
- Kodumanal, Tamil Nadu, is another well-documented site, where wootz crucible steel was produced, and evidence of a magnetite iron source has been found at nearby Chennimalai.
- A circular bowl furnace measuring 115 cm x 65 cm was found here; the cutting edge of a sword recovered from the site had a carbon content of 0.8%, harder than its centre — suggesting good skill in iron metallurgy.
Gold Working
- Gold working was an important occupation, becoming more common perhaps with the arrival of Roman gold, and was undertaken at select sites.
- Traders in gold and goldsmiths are evidenced in the literature, and evidence of gold working has been found at a few sites.
- Gold objects have been found in many excavations, and megalithic burials have also produced gold jewellery; gold ornaments and goldsmiths are likewise described in the literature.
Glass Bead Industry
- Glass beads were introduced during this period, with bead-making industrial evidence reported from the sites of Arikamedu and Kudikkadu.
- Glass beads were traded both in the interior and in far-off regions — the demand for colourful stones, combined with the limited availability of raw materials, perhaps forced people to produce glass objects in large numbers.
Stone Bead and Ornament Working
- Evidence for stone bead and ornament manufacture has been found at numerous sites, including Kodumanal, Arikamedu, Kudikkadu, Alagankulam, and Pattanam in Kerala.
- Ornaments produced at these sites were sold in interior markets, and production centres existed near markets where raw materials could be easily sourced.
- The tradition of etched carnelian beads goes back to the Iron Age; the carnelian material was probably acquired from the Gujarat region.
- Stone beads were made not only for the local market — sometimes unfinished “blanks” were also exported for the overseas market.
- Materials found in the archaeological excavations include quartz, amethyst, carnelian, garnet, crystal, soapstone, emerald, and beryl, along with their waste materials.
Shell Bangle Working
- Shell bangle working was another important industry that flourished in the coastal area, with evidence found at the excavated sites of Arikamedu, Kudikkadu, Alagankulam, and Korkai.
- Shells of the Turbinella pyrum variety were recovered from the Pamban sea by the Paravars; the bangles made by cutting these shells were both worn and exported.
- Settlements of shell-cutters are mentioned in Sangam literature as existing near the town of Korkai.
- These shells may also find reference in the Arthasastra as Pandiya Kavataka.
Textile Industry
- The textile industry was well developed, as revealed by both archaeological and textual evidence.
- Urban dwellers attired themselves in cotton and silk clothes, decorated with floral designs, while the mountainous and forest people wore dresses made of flowers and leaves, and also garments made of wool.
- At the site of Uraiyur, a dyeing vat was found, indicating that the ancient Tamils dyed their clothes.
- There is a reference to “Argaritic” in Ptolemy’s work, a fine cloth from ancient Tamizhagam, while the inscription at Alagarmalai refers to an “Aruvai vanigan,” a merchant of textiles.
- Cloth from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Orissa also came to the Tamil region, and there is reference to Kalingam as a type of cloth in Tamil literature.
Sangam Age: Land Grants
- This period saw the extension of land under cultivation and the growth of settlements through land grants to brahmanas, which were exempt from various taxes and dues.
- Most of these lands were virgin forests, though grants were also made for regions that were already under cultivation.
- The ruling families derived economic advantage from these grants, since bringing such lands under cultivation would lead to an increase in the resource base.
- These grants also ensured that rulers received the support of the brahmins, a practice sanctioned by religious texts to guarantee the brahmins their subsistence.
- Land grants were also given to non-brahmin religious establishments, such as Buddhist and Jain temples.
- Land gifts to officials also became prominent during the Gupta and post-Gupta periods, leading to the emergence of a new class of landowners.
- Kings who had been defeated often continued to rule over their lands after accepting the suzerainty of the new powers — this meant that the king would become a vassal, sending tribute to the new overlord by sharing revenue from the land.
- The reach of water resources was an important consideration in the spread of rural areas, reflected in the increasing number of canals, lakes, wells, and irrigation facilities such as tanks.
- These were referred to by different names: keres (tanks), nadi (river), araghatta (wells), srota (water channel), and vapis (step-wells).
- Land grants ultimately paved the way for the emergence of a feudal system in India.
